By Sara Sass

Iran is a Middle Eastern country with a population of seventy million people. Bordered on the east by Pakistan and Afghanistan, on the west by Iraq and Turkey, on the south by the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Omar, and on the north by the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan and Armenia, Iran has seen empires come and go like shadows on its tallest mountain, the Damavand.

( Damavand)

Iran is an arid plateau surrounded by mountain ranges including the Alborz, Caucasus and Zagros Mountains. It has two deserts, the Dasht-e Lut and the Dasht-e Kavir. Droughts are common, especially in central Iran. As one nears water, such as the Caspian Sea or Persian Gulf, the climate becomes more subtropical.

Iran was settled by the Medes in approximately 625 BC, but settlements and artifacts have been found in Iran dating as far back as 4000 BC. Three dynasties, the Achaemenids, Parthians and Sassanids, swept through the region, each lasting about 300 years. Iran dissolved into regions but was reunited by the Safavid Dynasty in 1501. The Safavids promoted Shia Islam, still the religion of Iran today. After a brief power struggle in 1935, the Shah was made leader of Iran, and the country was a monarchy until the revolution of 1979.

The Achaemenid dynasty included magnificent leaders like Cyrus the Great, Xerxes and Darius the Great. Cyrus the Great created the first constitution of human rights; known as the Cyrus Cylinder. He also united the two peoples of his empire: the Medes and the Persians. His son, Cambyses, continued the conquest, expanding the borders into Egypt. Darius I was the next emperor, and his contributions were significant. He is mentioned in the Old Testament as the “anointed of the Lord” to the Jews. Darius the Great continued to stretch the Persian Empire until it stretched from western India to eastern Europe, from the Caucasus to the Mediterranean.

( Cyrus Cylinder)

(Darius the Great)

( Persepolis)

The Greco-Persian wars occurred all throughout the 5 th century BC, and included the razing of Athens by Persian forces in 480 BC. Alexander the Great came into the region under the reign of Darius III, and he destroyed the palace Darius I built, Persepolis, in 334 BC.

After the demise of the annexes Alexander the Great made to the Persian Empire, the Parthian Dynasty swept in. Containing an elite of Greeks, the Parthians adapted to Persian custom and rule to not upset the majority of the citizens. The Parthians were an obstruction to the Roman Empire, and they maintained their borders against Roman advances for 300 years. Military strategist Marc Antony lost his campaign against the Parthians in 36 BC, as did the general Crassus in 53 BC.

The Parthian Empire dissolved internally in 224 AD, when the nobleman Ardashir I toppled the king and took power. He founded the Sassanid Empire, which relied on a system of nobles to control regions of the empire.

( Sassanid Architecture)

In 632 AD, Arab nomads flew into the empire, and the Islamic conquest of Persia began.

The first religion of Iran was not Islam, it was Zoroastrianism. Many qualities of Zoroastrianism still exist in Iranian culture today. The respect for the environment and for fellow creatures has a root in this ancient religion. Zoroastrians also believe that the world represents a constant struggle between the powers of good and evil, and eventually good will triumph over sin.

(farvahar)

The Islamic conquest of Persia made Iran into an official part of the Arab caliphate. However, Iran did not become Arab, they held onto their customs, culture and language.

Ferdowsi, the notable Persian poet, is considered the man responsible for keeping Farsi alive. His book, Shahnameh, is written completely in Farsi and kept Iranian myth alive in its original language. Unlike literature like Beowulf, Shahnameh can be read in its original form due to the lack of change Farsi has undergone between the 13 th century and now.

(ferdowsi)

In 1218, Iran (and much of Asia) was devastated by the pillaging of Genghis Khan. The invaders were so cruel they constructed pyramids of the severed heads of citizens in the streets of Iranian cities. Nearly half of the population of Iran was killed during this time.

The Safavid Dynasty encouraged a lot of arts and a distinct style of architecture developed from this era. Clashes with India and the Ottoman Empire were very common during this time, from 1501-1722. The capital of Iran switched from Tabriz to Qazvin to Isfahan to Tehran.

(Safavid Architecture)

The Qajar Dynasty had its established headquarters in Tehran. Modernizing reforms occurred under this reign, including the establishment of universities. However, Imperial Russia invaded Iran frequently during this time, taking nearly half of her territory. Despite this, Iran was never colonized.

(Qajar Tiles)

The Qajar Dynasty fell after increasing public distaste with corruption and foreign meddling in the government. Iran’s first parliament was founded in 1906.

In 1925, Reza Khan erased what was left of the Qajar Dynasty and declared himself king. He built railroads, established a national education system, and initiated industrialization in an Iran that was quickly falling behind the pace of the world.

(Reza Khan, the Shah)

Reza Shah (Reza Khan)’s close ties with Germany alarmed Russia and Britain in World War I, and so he was forced to abdicate the throne in favor of his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

The prime minister under the shah, Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh, became increasingly popular with the Iranian people after he nationalized the petroleum industry in 1951. Before his action, the British government and British Petroleum had been taking a huge majority of the profits.

(Mossadegh)

Britain retaliated with an embargo of Iranian oil, and convinced the CIA to take Dr. Mossadegh down. Dr. Mossadegh was arrested in 1953. After this point, the Shah became very autocratic. But, Iran did become very industrialized as America poured in its support.

Ayatollah Khomeini, an Islamic cleric, began to denounce the Shah and his practices. He was sent to exile in 1964, and he continued to insult the Shah and the American government.

The Iranian Revolution, or Islamic Revolution, occurred in 1979. An overwhelming number of strikes and demonstrations against the Shah’s government paralyzed the country and the economy. Street fighting occurred between the national army and guerrilla fighters. The Pahlavi dynasty came to a close and the Shah and his third wife fled from Iran to Europe.

The throes of the Islamic Revolution were upon Iran, and the country molded to become an Islamic republic. Relations with America deteriorated quickly when Iranian students seized fifty-two employees of the American embassy and held them hostage for 444 days. The hostages were released unharmed but America and Iran have not embassies in each other’s countries since.

Taking advantage of the political turmoil, Saddam Hussein of Iraq decided to attack and take Khuzestan, a region rich in oil. Despite the fragmentation of Iran’s military forces, Iran was able to push Iraq back. Iraq was supplemented by aircraft and weapons from America and the USSR, including chemical warfare which killed up to 100,000 Iranians. The total Iranian causality count for the eight year war (1980-1988) was about a million people. By some accounts, Iran’s oil facilities never recovered.